Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Welcome to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Way up north, in the permafrost, 1300 kilometers beyond the Arctic Circle, is the world's largest secure seed storage, opened by the Norwegian Government in February 2008. From all across the globe, crates of seeds are sent here for safe and secure long-term storage in cold and dry rock vaults.

The vault hold the seeds of many tens of thousands of varieties of essential food crops such as beans, wheat and rice. In total, the vault now holds seeds of more than 4000 plant species. These seed samples are duplicates of seed sample stores in national, regional and international gene banks.

The Seed Bank was established and is fully funded by the Norwegian government, with the responsibility for operations assigned to The Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The Ministry coordinates daily operation with the Nordic Gene Resource Centre and the Global Crop Diversity Trust, and receives guidance from a dedicated international council established to advise the Seed Bank.

Current

For the first time forest tree seeds are officially deposited and stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The Norwegian Minister of Agriculture and Food, Sylvi Listhaug together with her Swedish and Danish colleagues Sven-Erik Bucht and Dan Jørgensen, carried the first boxes of Nordic forest tree seeds in to the vault today. This is an important contribution to the conservation of genetic resources.